You can delete your posts as well as comments on Reddit.
If you regret posting a comment, it can be deleted by clicking on the three dots > Delete comment > Delete.
Although the comment will be removed, the thread is still there.
For instance, if someone else replied to your comment, you cannot delete the reply.
In this post, I will tell you how to find, recover, or see deleted comments or posts on Reddit.
How to see deleted Reddit comments
To see deleted Reddit comments, the first thing you need to do is copy the link to the thread.
After copying the URL of the thread, paste the link into Wayback Machine.
In the end, choose a date and time before the comment was removed, scroll down, and try to find the comment.
Wayback Machine helps you to find archived Reddit comments and posts.
This tool stores the Reddit threads by taking screenshots of Reddit threads.
Let’s suppose that someone posted a comment on January 10 and deleted it on March 10.
In this case, you need to try finding their comment by selecting a screenshot before March 10.
If you’re lucky, if the comment was captured and crawled by the Wayback machine, you can see it.
Here is a step by step guide to see deleted Reddit comments:
#1: Copy the link to the thread
The first thing is to copy the URL of the Reddit thread.
To begin with, go to Reddit and go to the thread where the comment is located.
You can see the deleted comments by this phrase, “Comment deleted by user”.
Now, you can either copy the comment or the link to the thread.
If you want to copy the link to the thread, highlight the URL and click on “Copy”.
In order to copy the link to the comment, click on the date (e.g. 10 mo. ago), highlight the URL, and click on “Copy”.
In most cases, it will copy the link of the thread rather than the comment.
It happens because there is a great chance that the thread is crawled instead of a comment on Reddit.
The only issue is if the comment is too long.
When you try to view an archive of the comment, if it is too long, it will be cut short.
#2: Paste the URL into Wayback Machine
After copying the URL of the Reddit thread/comment, you need to go to Wayback Machine.
You can use this URL to go to the Wayback Machine: https://archive.org/web/.
After opening the site, paste the URL into the text field.
To see the screenshots, click on “Browse History”.
Wayback Machine is a tool that enables you to see what websites looked like in the past.
It can also be used to find deleted posts or comments on social media sites like Twitter and Reddit. Check how to see Deleted Tweets on Twitter.
#3: Select a date and time before the comment was deleted
After clicking on “Browse history”, it will take you to the calendar.
The calendar has colored dots in different sizes.
Now, the next step is to select a date and time before the Reddit comment was deleted.
To get started, the trial and error method can be used.
For instance, if the comment was deleted in November, you need to select a date in August.
Unfortunately, if there are no dots available, it indicates that the link has not been crawled.
In short, you won’t be able to see the removed Reddit comment.
If the calendar shows a lot of dots, it shows that the URL has been crawled a lot.
If a post/comment is popular on Reddit, it will be crawled more than a post/comment that gets little to no engagement.
Therefore, if you’re finding a deleted comment containing many replies, it is more likely that you find a screenshot of it in the calendar.
#4: Scroll down and find the deleted Reddit comment
After selecting a date and time before the Reddit comment was removed, it will take you to the thread.
Now, the next thing is to scroll down the thread until you locate the deleted Reddit comment.
If the comment got a lot of upvotes, it will be available at the top.
However, if the comment did not get a lot of upvotes, you need to scroll down for a while in order to find it.
If you have used the link of the comment rather than the thread, you will see the removed comment instantly.
However, if the comment is too long, it may be cut short and you will not be able to see the whole comment.
After going through this guide, you will be able to find the deleted Reddit comment.
I hope that you have learned how to see a deleted comment on Reddit!
How to see deleted Reddit posts
- Firstly, go to the deleted Reddit post.
- Now, copy the link of the deleted Reddit post.
- Go to this URL: https://archive.org/web/.
- Paste the link that you’ve just copied.
- Click on “Browse History”.
- Select a date and time before the post was deleted (if you do not remember, use the trial and error method).
- See the deleted Reddit post.
Final Words
Wayback Machine is an ideal choice for popular Reddit comments and posts that were deleted.
The reason behind this is that it is easy to crawl popular comments and posts than unpopular ones.
The comment or post will be crawled with ease if a comment or post has too many upvotes.
As a result, if it got deleted, it will be an easy task to locate it back.
You might have seen that the calendar has different colored dots of different sizes.
The rule is, that the bigger the dot, the more activity it contains.
The blue dot indicates that the URL has been crawled successfully.
If there are no dots on the calendar, it shows that the link has not been crawled once.
Unfortunately, if the URL of a post or comment is not crawled, you won’t be able to locate the deleted Reddit comment or post.
What’s Next
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Arsalan Rauf is an entrepreneur, freelancer, creative writer, and also a fountainhead of Green Hat Expert. Additionally, he is also an eminent researcher of Blogging, SEO, Internet Marketing, Social Media, premium accounts, codes, links, tips and tricks, etc.